Antique Masonic Deathskull Dagger

Masonic Death Skull / Memento Mori Dagger, circa 1890s-1900s.  Featuring a dark maroon Bakelite handle w/ spiral grip, wrapped with braided copper wire. Solid cast brass crossbones guard w/ leather spacer above and grooved brass ferrule ring below. Detailed solid brass skull pommel w/ an ominous grin. High carbon steel, double-edged dagger blade with unsharpened edges. Includes the original bark brown leather tube scabbard w/ elongated brass throat (locket) & end mount (chape) w/ finial — fits like a glove. Overall excellent antique condition with beautiful original patina on the brass. SPECS: 10” blade, 2.75” wide guard, 15” OAL (15.75” OAL w/ scabbard.

Memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die") is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The concept has its roots in the philosophers of classical antiquity and Christianity, and appeared in funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onwards.

The most common motif is a skull, often accompanied by bones. Often this alone is enough to evoke the trope, but other motifs include a coffin, hourglass, or wilting flowers to signify the impermanence of life. Often these function within a work whose main subject is something else, such as a portrait, but the vanitas is an artistic genre where the theme of death is the main subject.

The expression memento mori developed with the growth of Christianity, which emphasized Heaven, Hell, Hades and salvation of the soul in the afterlife. The 2nd century Christian writer Tertullian claimed in his Apologeticas, that during a triumphal procession a victorious general had someone standing behind him, holding a crown over his head and whispering: "Respice post te. Hominem te esse memento. Memento mori." ("Look after yourself. Remember you're a man. Remember you will die").